The Torn Prince
by Shiroi Misa
Summary: Severus Snape gets another chance to go back, save Lily and stop the war. But first his younger self is forced to relive his death in front of the Marauders. In his weaken state he is forced to rely on James Potter for help. Like it or not. SS/LE JP/LE
1. From Blood Reborn

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, wish I did.

For those of you who are waiting for my W.I.T.C.H./Harry Potter crossover don't worry it's still in the works. I've gotten the first two chapters done but I wanted to get a few more written since the plot for that store is fairly complex and I don't want to miss anything important.

I do apologize for the long break from writing but it's been a very busy and fairly rotten year for me. But I feel that I need to get my creative juices flowing again to build up some more positive energy. And after all the "Far well to Harry Potter" parties and tributes this little idea popped into my head and I have been unable to shake it. So might as well let it out. The parts in **bold** are lines from the books. I'm also looking for a Beta for this story so if anyone is interested please let me know. Enjoy.

The plot: Severus Snape gets another chance to go back, stop the first rise of the Dark Lord, and to save Lily before the prophesy can be told. But things are never easy or straightforward for Snape. His seventeen year-old self is forced to relive his death in front of the Marauders and a whole crowd of students. In his weakened state he is forced to rely on his arch rival for help. Can they save the world or will they end up killing each other first? Pairings Snape/Lily and James/Lily More to come.

The Torn Prince

**Chapter 1:**

From Blood Reborn

Seventeen year old Severus Snape was in deep thought as he slowly exited his year sixth year Transfiguration class. Tonight was suppose to be an exciting night but all he felt was unease. Tonight the chosen ones would be initiated into the Dark Lord's ranks, and become Death Eaters. But was this what he really wanted? Sure he wanted power, he wanted be somebody important, someone other wizards would look up to.

Potter and his friends were living in a dream world. They had no idea what muggles were like and yet they defended them as if they were helpless victims. Thinking of his mother, practically broken by his bastard of a father and Lily's spiteful muggle sister- He paused as his thoughts once again turned to his former best friend. _'Stop that!' _he scolded himself. _'It's over, you screwed it all up! And it's your own damn fault!'_

_**"Does it make a difference, being Muggle-born?"**_

_**He hesitated. His black eyes, eager in the greenish gloom, moved over her pale face and dark red hair.**_

_**"No," he said. "It doesn't make any difference."**_

The memory drifted into his head unwillingly.

But maybe when he earned the Dark Lord's favor, when he became someone important he could make her see- but his thoughts were interrupted with a sharp pain to his right hand as his wand flew out of it.

He turned and quickly spotted James "bloody" Potter is his merry little band of trouble makers.

"Potter!" he spat. "Give me my wand back this instant or I'll-"

"Or you'll what, Snivellus. It seems to me you've lost your wand. You really should take better care of it. Someone might accidentally thrown it into a tree." James taunted and his best friend Sirius Black was right behind him with the punch line.

"How about the Whopping Willow." James smiled.

"Nicely done mate." While the two of them were rubbing Snape's nose in the fact that he had been caught off guard Remus was trying to figure out a way to end this confrontation with out anyone getting hurt, maimed or humiliated. Peter just hung back and decided to enjoy this show that was just starting.

Snape was furious, he couldn't believe he had let his wand be taken from him so easily. He wouldn't put it past those four not to fallow up on their threat. But just as he was formulating a plan to get it back a strange memory seemed to pop into his head.

_**"I'm sorry!" he begged.**_

_**"Save your breath." Lily said turning away from him.**_

_**"I only came out because Mary told me you were threatening to sleep here."**_

_**"I was. I would have. I never meant to call you Mudblood, it just – "**_

Severus shook his head violently. Why was he thinking about this now?

_**"It's too Late…I can't pretend anymore. You've chosen your way, I've chosen mine."**_

"What's wrong Snivlly?" taunted James. "Can't think of any snappy comebacks this time?"

But the voices didn't stop there. This time it was Professor Dumbledore. _**"How much did you relay to Lord Voldemort?"**_

_**"Everything – everything I heard!" said Snape. "That is why – it is for that reason – he thinks it means Lily Evans!"**_

The Slytherin was now becoming alarmed. That wasn't a memory.

_**"You disgust me," said Dumbledore, with contempt in his voice. Snape seemed to shrink a little, "You do not care, then, about the deaths of her husband and child? They can die, as long as you have what you want?"**_

"Stop it." The real Severus said through gritted teeth now covering his ears trying to shut out the voices in his head.

Then he heard something that made a terrible sound, like a wounded animal. Severus was shocked when he realized it was himself._**"I thought…you were going…to keep her…safe…"**_

"I said STOP IT! STOP IT RIGHT NOW!" The boy shouted denying and yet knowing what the voices were implying.

James looked back at his friends giving them a questioning look. "What's he on about? We haven't done anything yet?"

"_**You remember the shape and color of Lily Evans's eyes, I am sure?"**_

_**"DON'T!" bellowed Snape. "Gone…dead…"**_

"SHUT UP!" He shrieked so violently the Marauders collectively took a step back.

Snape then turned to his teenage attackers. He had a mad look in his eyes and he fixated them right at the Gryffindors. "I don't know what you're playing at but this is too cruel even for you. Make it stop NOW!"

_**"I wish…I wish I were dead…"**_

Severus shoved his hands over his ears but the voices only seemed to be getting louder. As a crowd started to gather his behavior only became more erratic. To make matters even worse images were flashing behind his eye lids to go along with voices. Haunting images of Lily several years older kissing Potter, of himself listen by a door, and of the Dark Lord branding his arm.

_**" – mediocre, arrogant as his father, a determined rule-breaker, delighted to find himself famous, attention-seeking and impertinent – "**_

Images of a young boy who looks sickenlly like James Potter…but his eyes….

_**"You see what you expect to see, Severus," he heard Dumbledore say.**_

More images of the green eyed Potter growing up through his eyes as he watched and protected the boy. The boy that marked his rivals triumph over him. The boy that should have been his, his and Lily's.

Severus Snape had sunk to his knees still shaking his head. His thought were getting mixed up with these new strange one trying to weave themselves into his mind.

_**"Why did you put on that ring? It carries a curse, surely you realized that. Why even touch it?"**_he hear his own voice again paired with an image of the Headmaster's blackened hand.

_**"It is a miracle you managed to return here!" Snape sounded furious. "That ring carried a curse of extraordinary power, to contain it is all we can hope for; I have trapped the curse in one hand for the time being – "**_

Within the ever growing crowd was Mary Macdonald, a good friend of Lily Evens. She had help her friend out all though her and Snape's fail friendship. And while Lily said she had given up totally on the little bastard Mary could still catch her steeling glances at "the boy next store" wondering if she made the right choice.

Mary personally thought it was good that Lily finally broke things off with Snape but even she had to admit a four against one fight wasn't very Gryffindor in her books. But this was different, she didn't see who started it but right now Snape was getting hysterical. James and his pals didn't seem to be doing much and even looked confused. Something was wrong and it was only getting worse.

Mary quickly turned to a small second year Gryffindor and told her to go get Professor McGonagall before things got too violent. The girl looked relived now that she had an excuse to leave and took off running. It was a good thing she was sent away, for things really did go from bad to worst.

James and the other Marauders didn't notice the girl leaving they could only stare in confusion at their arch rival…well writhing. James glanced back a Sirius wondering if his best friend was trying some weird new spell.

"Hey mate, what'd you do?" Sirius look back at James with an odd expression.

"Me, I thought you were doing it." James got a better look at his face, he could always tell if Sirius was lying. He could never keep a straight face when he had pulled off a great prank. His staggering number of detentions was proof as well as a source of great pride for the boy.

Remus looked worried and Peter…well Peter he wasn't so sure about. It looked like he was scared but didn't want to look away. While that may have seemed strange whatever was happening to Snivellus was way beyond Wormtail's capability.

Sirius tried to smile but it fell short so he tried to joke his way out of a evergrowing scary situation. "Maybe he's just gone round the twist?" But even he couldn't laugh as Snape let out another scream.

"Guys!" Hissed Remus. "This isn't funny something is seriously wrong with him."

James first response would have been, "You're just figuring this out now?" but even he had to admit this was getting too weird for his taste so he held his tong.

As for Severus the images and voices were only getting worse.

_**"You have done very well, Severus. How long do you think I have?"**_

The seventeen year old Snape realize, even in his casual tone, Albus had just admitted that he was dying.

_**"If you had only summoned me a little earlier, I might have been able to do more, buy you more time!" **_his older self said furiously. An image of a broken ring and sword attacked his eyes. He had never seen them before their meaning was clear. And now they were coming in flashes. Like something was coming, as if he was he was running out of time.

He saw himself promising that he would keep his promise to Dumbledore, and his confession that he still loved Lily, even after all this time. Other images came with such quickness he wasn't sure what he was seeing.

Then he saw himself kill Albus Dumbledore and running from the castle. And he felt the pain of the loss almost as much as Lily herself.

But even then he was cured as well as obligated to watch over her son. It always was at a distance, why should now be any different? He led the boy to the sword, and watch as Potter and the Weasley boy destroyed the locket. He was left to protect Hogwarts while distrusted from members on both sides.

Finally he was called, and at last the Dark Lord placed his precious snake in a protective case. But something was wrong.

The crowd had gotten even larger as Severus Snape stood up. He was looking at the Marauders but it was almost like he was looking through them at something else only he could see.

_**"It cannot be any other way," said Voldemort. "I must master the wand, Severus. Master the wand, and I master Potter at last."**_

The present day Snape backed away slowly his eyes widening in fear. No one said a word but even if they had Snape only heard one.

_**"Kill." **_

_He saw the snake coming at him but could do nothing to stop it. He screamed as he felt its sharp fangs rip into his neck. As the warm blood poured from his body his screams turned into garbled gasps. He collapsed to the ground grabbing his thought fighting in vain to keep the poison from spreading and his blood from spilling. But this wasn't a vision that was just happening in his head._

_The crowd gasp in horror and joined Severus in his screaming. They couldn't see what had happened even though they were staring at him the whole time. All they saw was a terrified Snape and something invisible ripping out his thought. _

_Even through the crowd was large no one was willing to near the poor bleeding Slytherin. They didn't know what had attacked him or where it had gone. Many fled: some to get help, some just to get away. Only James Potter was close enough to hear what Severus was saying._

"_Take…it….take…it…."_

_He had no clue what the other boy was talking about. But as much as he hated Snivellus Snape, and he did, it wasn't enough to want to watch him die right in front of him. After getting over his initial shock he rushed to Snape's side and put his hands over the neck wounds trying to stop the bleeding. _

_But as he lay dying Snape's mind was caught somewhere between his current life and the life he had yet to live. But he still had one last thing he needed to do. Reaching up he grabbed James's robes and forced the Gryffindor to look him in the eye. _

"_LOOK AT ME!" But as he looked in to Potter's Brown eyes he knew something was terribly off. Somehow he was looking at the wrong Potter._

_While James still had no clue what was going on something happened when he met Snape's eyes. He saw an entire life, not his own, flash before his eyes in a heartbeat. Before he could take anything in however, he was roughly shoved aside by Professor McGonagall. She a several other teachers had converged on sixth year Slytherin and were attempting to save his life. _

_As soon as they were ready to move him the deputy Headmistress turned to her four wayward lions. They had never seen her eyes so cold and harsh aim directly at them, not even after that botched prank on the full moon last year. "What have you done?" she said softly but she might as well have shouted._

_James opened his mouth to defend himself but as he glanced down he realized he still had Snape's wand in his hand and his close were now drenched in his blood. _

_To be continued…_

_Next time: Lies in the Light, Truth in the Darkness_

_While Severus fights for his life, James begins to have vision of the life Snape lived and the life that is to come. And he never been more terrified._


	2. Lies in the Light, Truth in the Darkness

Disclaimer: Don't own Harry Potter and I am not making any money off of this.

Sorry for the long wait, I've just got a lot going on in my life right now. Aryllia had offered to help me beta this fic but since I haven't heard back I decided to post part two anyway.

I was surprised that the first chapter got such a response I'm glad to see people are interested. I'll try not to take too long with each chapter but with two jobs, looking for a better one so I don't need two, getting the house in order to move, and finding the time and money to see "Seminar" starring Alan Rickman, I can't make any promises. Thanks for all your reviews I hope you'll still like it the further we get into the story. I was plotting out the time line and it looks like it's going to be longer than I thought. I almost broke this chapter up since it was getting a little long but I wanted to have both James and Severus in this chapter since it's starting to set up the main plot of them having to work together. And so on to chapter two.

C h a p t e r 2

Lies in the Light, truth in the Darkness

Lily Evens could tell something bad had happened even before she saw the steady streams of students running panicked in different directions. She had just gotten out of her Advanced Charms class when she felt a shiver run down her spine. She didn't know how to explain it but something had happened, something had changed, she just didn't know what.

She planned on getting something to eat for dinner in the Great Hall but then she started seeing a large number of students heading to and from the Transfiguration room. Her Gryffindor curiosity got the better of her. She could hear bits and pieces of rushed conversations as she got closer. She didn't know what had happened but one thing she did hear was the name…Snape.

Fearing her former best friend had done something awful she quickened her pace until she ran into a friendly face. "Marry? Marry what's going on? Why is everyone in a panic? Was…was it Se-Snape?"

Mary's face was pale and she looked visibly shaken. It was then Lily noticed that there were small flecks of red on her friend's white school shirt.

"My God, is that…blood?"

Mary apparently hadn't noticed the stain until Lily had pointed it out and if possible she became even paler. Putter her hand on Mary's shoulder Lily tried to calm her friend enough to find out what had happened.

"Mary, please calm down. I need to what happened, what did Snape do?" The question seemed to have woken the girl up from her shock.

"I-I wasn't there when it started but, Po-Potter and his friends were having a laugh when suddenly…" she trailed off just thinking about what she saw.

Lily shook her friend getting frustrated and scared. "Marry please, tell me what happened?"

Finally Mary took a deep breath and told her friend all about how Potter and his gang had confronted Snape. She then told her how the Slytherin had started acting very strangely when suddenly something stuck him in the neck. "There was so much blood." She said quietly. "I didn't see what hit him…there was so much blood."

Lily's face drain of color as Mary described the grisly scene. "Is…is he alright?"

"I…I don't know. The teachers came quickly and they took him away but…" but she clamed up again.

Lily knew she wasn't going to get much more out of Mary. The girl was still in shock. So she ran off towards the Transfiguration classroom hoping to find someone else who had seen what happened and could tell her if her former best friend was alright. As she turned the corner she spotted a large crowd gathered around a warded off area. She shoved her way to the front trying desperately to see what everyone was staring at. But as soon as got close enough the reason became clear. The floor and the walls were spattered with blood. Mary had been right when she said there was a lot of it. She covered her mouth trying not to scream. She wondered what had happened and if the friend she once knew was still alive.

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By the time Lily had gotten back to the common room just about everyone else from her house was already there. There had been an announcement telling all the students to return to their house common rooms at once. It was just as well. The four she had been searching for would hopefully have been sent back by now. Sure enough she spotter James Potter and his gang huddled together whispering furiously to each other so engrossed in their own conversation that they didn't even notice the red head storming up to them.

"JAMES POTTER! WHAT THE BLOODY HELL DID YOU DO?" James jumped about a foot at the sound of Lily's demanding tone and quickly spun around.

"Evens, calm down. I don't know what you've heard-"

"I've heard about 15 different versions about the attack on Severus Snape, none of them totally agreeing on what happened outside of the Transfiguration room. The only things that they do agree on was that at the end he was bleeding to death and you were holding his wand covered in blood." her voice was starting to shake by the end of the rant and it was gaining the attention of the other student in the room.

Seeing the situation was growing a bit too public for his taste James beckoned the 6th year prefect to a secluded corner of the room. "I need to know what happened Potter, and I need the truth! No lies, no sugar coating and no accounts of your heroic exploits." Tears were starting to glisten in her eyes. "There was so much blood; I heard he had to be taken to the hospital. A few said the he was already-" but she couldn't go on. It was all she could do to stop from crying and the last thing she wanted was to cry on that toe rag's shoulder. Her near teary face stopped James from reminding her that Snape was no longer her friend or her concern. He had some tact, thank you very much. Plus it probably wasn't a good time to go around insulting the boy you were suspecting of trying to murder.

"Truthfully Evens, we don't know what happened."

"Oh, don't give me that, you were at the center of it."

"Yeah, and as you probably heard it happened in front of dozens of people and no one was sure about what they saw." Right now he was very glad he had gotten rid of his blood stained close before Lily and the other students starting pouring into the common room.

"Well, why don't you walk me through everything that happened step by step, starting when you and your crew met Snape in the hallway."

James looked at his friends and sighed. "Alright, I admit when we saw him coming out of Transfiguration with the other Slytherins looking distracted we weren't exactly planning on asking him to join us for tea."

"But we weren't planning on anything...bad." said Sirius nudging James to keep the revelation of their plans to a minimum.

"They were going to throw his wand into the Whomping Willow, turn his knickers pink and hang them from the goal post on the Quidditch pitch." squealed Wormtail before quickly ducking behind Remus.

"Peter!" shouted Sirius angrily.

The smallest boy pocked his head out nervously looking back and forth between Sirius and Lily. "S-sorry, but I'd rather get detention for a prank than go to Azkaban for murder."

"And what about getting expelled for destroying another wizards wand?" Remus shouted as quietly as he could.

Sirius gave him his best puppy dog face. "Oh come now, Remus. We weren't really going to destroy his wand." _'Make a fake copy, break it and send him the pieces maybe.'_ he thought to himself.

James kicked his fellow Marauder for essentially confessing that the other parts of the prank were planed. Sirius yelped but covered his mouth while glaring at James.

James looked back at his long term crush and was not surprised to see her hand was inching towards her wand. "Any way Evens, we didn't do anything except disarm him." he said quickly hoping distract her while making it sound like Snape was threatening them without actually lying. "Next thing we know, he starts grabbing his head screaming at us telling us to shut-up, even though we weren't saying anything. It was like he was hearing voices or something. As the crowd got bigger he had practically collapsed. Suddenly he stood up with this look of horror in his eyes and started to back away. Then without any warning something invisible attacked him ripping out his throat."

Lily cringed at the description but didn't interrupt as James continued. "It was chaos after that, people screaming and running in every direction. I guess it's not so strange that there were so many different versions of the story. But Snape said something really strange right after he was attacked. It was hard to make out but it sounded like "take it" any idea what it meant?"

Lily shook her head.

"No? Well, no one else was coming to help him I stepped in." Lily still didn't say anything but raised her eyebrow clearly skeptical. James held his hands up. "Hey, I may not like the guy, in fact, I hate his guts. But I'm not about to watch someone die right in front of me."

Lily looked thoughtful as if she was debating whether or not he was telling her the truth but there was one more thing she had to ask. "Did-Did he say anything else? Some people said he said something to you but they argued about what."

James nodded. "Yeah, as I was trying to keep him from bleeding out he grabbed my robes and said, "Look at me!" and looked right into my eyes."

Sirius shivered. "Not the best way to confess your Love to-Ouch!" Sirius said starting to joke but was kicked again this time by Remus. The other boy glared at him clearly telling him to keep his mouth shut. Sirius glared back but complied.

"It wasn't anything like that you idiot. But it was really strange. When he looked at me he seemed even more confused like he was staring at the wrong person or something." He kept the part about the quick vision that flashed before his eyes to himself. He wasn't sure why, he couldn't even remember what he saw. So it didn't seem like he was leaving out anything important.

"That's when McGonagall and the other teachers showed up. Admittedly it looked pretty bad seeing as I still had his wand and was covered in blood from trying to save him. We tried to explain what happen the problem is we don't really know happened." James said sounding frustrated. "We were question by McGonagall and the Headmaster. And while I don't think they thought we did it we still have to be questioned by the Aurors soon. They took our wands in the mean time and we're not allowed to leave the common room until further notice."

Lily sighed. No one seemed to know anything. All she really wanted to know was if Severus Snape was alright. For the moment it didn't matter that she had broken off their friendship, she didn't want him to die. She didn't want him to go down the path of darkness but she couldn't convince him to change. She felt even more helpless now then the day he said that word to her and ended their friendship.

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It was dark, he couldn't see where he was going but he continued on. After what felt like an eternity Severus Snape thought he saw something in the distance, it looked like a light. Cautiously he approached the only thing he could see. It _was_ a light, a beautiful light. A warm and inviting feeling was coming from it beckoning him closer. But suddenly he stopped, something was wrong, he thought as he took a step back.

"What's wrong Severus?" a female voice said from somewhere within the light. "It's alright, it's over. You can come home now." He thought the voice sound sounded familiar but he couldn't place it. But he stopped where he was, there was still a deep feeling of foreboding.

"Home? What do you mean? What home? Who are you?"

"Poor boy, you don't even know where home is do you?"

"Boy?" Severus snapped insulted. "I haven't been a boy for a very long time."

"No, I suppose you haven't." it said sadly. "But it's OK. It's alright now; you don't have to worry about anything else."

At the mention of worrying Severus turned around and looked back into the unseen darkness. There was still something there even though he couldn't see it. Something important, something he had left behind. The light was wonderful but he had to go back.

"Where are you going?" the voice called out as he started walking away.

"I left something behind I have to go get it."

"You don't have to worry about that anymore."

Severus stopped and glanced back. "How do you know what I've left?"

"You can't even remember what it was so what does it matter? Now, come along." The voice was sounding a lot less friendly and more and more impatient. He could see that even though he had been moving away from the light it seemed to be moving closer to him.

"No, I have to go back I'm the only one who-"

"I SAID COME HERE!" Severus spun around and saw to his horror that it wasn't a lovely white light…it was a large white snake. "YOU'RE NOT GOING ANYWHERE!"

"Nagini!" he nearly screamed as she lunged toward him her jaws opening wide ready to bit him again. Aiming right at his neck she opened her massive jaws reveling rows of razor sharp teeth.

Severus duck barely missing her deadly teeth and took off in a run back into the darkness. He glanced over his shoulder and saw her stark white body shining brightly against the darkened landscape. He sped up, hoping his dark clothing might hide him from the Dark Lord's killer snake. He ran zigzagging left and right hoping to shake her off. He didn't know how long he had been running but the next time he looked over his shoulder he could no longer see the snake.

Far from feeling relieved he became even more frightened not knowing where his enemy was hiding. He slowed his pace incase Nagini has somehow circled around him but he didn't dare stop moving. There was still something he had to find and he had to find it fast, time was running out.

Finally he saw it. Two bright green orbs revealed themselves and Severus almost cried with relief. How could he have forgotten, even for a moment? Wasting no more time he raced toward them as fast as he could. But just as he was about to reach them the ground beneath him began to crumble away. He flung out his arms and surprisingly enough managed to grab hold of a piece of the darkness. It felt like the material from his teaching robes. He clung to it as the ground beneath him cracked and disintegrated into a glowing white pool.

"Wouldn't it be so much easier to just…let go." Nagaini's voice purred. "You're only making it harder on yourself, you know." He didn't look down. He didn't want to see her scaly head coming up from beneath him. Instead he focused on the two green lights floating right above him, unprotected. They were in danger but he just couldn't seem to reach them.

"You can't help them you know." Severus wished his hands were free so he could try to block out the snakes voice. "You've fail them, you're the reason they're here."

"Shut up!" he shouted back but inside his will was fading.

"Why don't you just rest? Sleep, sleep and you won't have to feel so much pain anymore." For a moment he almost agreed. He was so tired of fighting and never getting anything he wanted. Never able to keep anything that wasn't tainted or broken. Never able to protect what he cherished the most. Not even able to keep his promise. He felt his grip start to loosen.

"That's it, sleep." But as the voice spoke it turned from the childlike voice of Nagini to the soft hissing tone of his former master. "Sleep, just like your precious little MUDBLOOD!" And suddenly it was like an invisible force was trying to pull him down into the light. But at the sound of that dreadful word everything came back to him. The life he had lived and the life he was living now. And then he understood. They weren't gone yet there were just in the darkness like him. They haven't gone to the light and neither would he. He gripped the black fabric-like-darkness and with all his might and started pulling himself up, climbing towards the two green lights.

"Stop fighting Severus. You'll only bring more pain and misery no matter how much you think you want to help." While Severus Snape did have similar doubts he ignored them and kept climbing. "You are dark Severus, that's why you fear the light. You can't change your nature."

He was almost there but the fabric was starting to wear and rip as if it was rapidly aging right before his eyes. But he could not stop. Not now, he was so close. "What use are you to anyone? You betrayed your so-called "great love", you betrayed your master, you killed Dumbledore, the great symbol of the light, and you failed to keep your promise to keep "her" son safe. Everyone would be better off without you."

Severus was now hanging onto a handful of threads that were in danger of breaking at any moment. He was so close yet so far. He was within reach but couldn't reach them and the painful words weren't just accusations they were echoes of his own thoughts.

"Just let go, they'll be better off without you there." And then Severus looked down and saw Nagini's face hovering in the center of her coiled white body that spiraled forming a white vortex like shape. But her head had his eyes, those horrible glowing red eyes. "I promise."

And Severus Snape looked the beast directly in the eyes and said, "LIAR!" And with every last bit of strength he hosted himself up the last few inches and grabbed the two green orbs and held them protectively against himself.

"GIVE THEM TO ME! THEY ARE MINE!"

He couldn't run, the snake was already too close and he didn't have his wand on him to protect himself. So he did the only thing he could think of. He shielded the precious orbs with his own body knowing full well that the snake was going to tear him apart. But something unexpected happened.

The moment the snake touched him it shrieked and disintegrated into nothing leaving him once again in total darkness. Well, not total darkness. The two orbs were glowing even brighter now that the snake was gone. They were safe and for the moment so was he. Not out of danger but for now he knew it was finally ok to just rest. And with the orbs safely with him he finally did.

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The Medi-wizard let out a huge sigh of relief. He didn't like coming that close to losing a patient. Fortunately it seems like the kid was a fighter and wanted very much to live. In his life he learned that all the magic in the world meant very little if the patient had little or no will left to live. "You must have something important left to." He whispered to the unconscious teenager.

"Alright, keep up with the blood replenishment potions and the basic anti-venoms. Is his teacher still here?" he called out, vanishing the blood from his robes.

"Yes, the one that found him as well as the headmaster." He stopped his hand cleansing spell when he heard what his nurse said.

"Professor Dumbledore's here?" The assistant nodded.

"Yes as well as that nutter of an Auror Alastor Moody." The medi-wizard frowned. At first he thought this was an accident but if Moody was called in-

"Grace, have our security team stationed at his door and call me the instant there's any problems. This kid's not out of the woods yet and I'd rather not find out that someone "helped" him."

"Yes sir."

Within minutes he was face to face with his former headmaster shaking his hand. "Professor Dumbledore sir, I'm healer Armstrong I trust you're here about Mr. Snape?"

"Quite right, how is he Mr. Armstrong? Professor McGonagall has informed me that it was quite…" he paused not wanting to sound too insensitive.

"I believe the word you're looking for is gruesome. He's stable for now but not out of danger. Does anyone know the type of snake that attacked him?" He was surprised by the look of surprise on his former teachers.

"Did you say snake?" asked professor McGonagall looking confused.

"Yes, it was definitely a snake that bit him and it's not a common one. There's something in its venom that hindering our efforts to stop the bleeding. Since it's a neck wound it makes it all the more dangerous. You didn't see the snake professor?"

McGonagall shook her head. "No, I'm afraid I didn't witness the attack. We assumed he was attacked by a fellow student. There were many other witnesses but no one mentioned a snake."

The Auror Moody kept looking around as if he expected something to jump out at him. "It could still be an attack Professor. There are some dark spells that could render a creature invisible."

"But those are highly advanced and not taught at the school."

"Maybe not in class but perhaps by-" but Moody was cut off by a light cough from Professor Dumbledore.

"May I suggest we hold our theories for now and focus on young Mr. Snape? Now Mr. Armstrong, are you sure it couldn't be anything else responsible for the attack. A spell perhaps?"

Healer Armstrong thought the group's reaction was a little strange and that maybe Dumbledore might know a bit more than he was saying. "I'm afraid not. The shape of the bite wound and the venom could only be that of a snake. Although I find it hard to believe no one saw it or that someone was able to turn it invisible. It had to be at least as big as a Burmese Python, maybe bigger. And an animal that moves that much would be very difficult to keep under an invisibility spell."

"I see." Dumbledore said frowning slightly.

"In any case, if anyone's seen the snake or knows something please owl me immediately. It would greatly help with his recovery. Right now he still needs to be watched until we can totally neutralize the venom in his system." He glanced around the waiting room. "Has anyone contacted his family?"

"His head of house Professor Slunghorn was left with that task. Although I am surprised that they have yet to arrive." commented Dumbledore glancing around as well. "If Horace is having trouble I'll see to it that his family is informed personally.

"I'm sorry to be leaving so soon but if we do in fact have a dangerous creature loose within the school we had better find it or make sure it is no longer a threat. Please do keep us informed on Mr. Snape's progress I'm sure his family will be he soon."

And with that the teachers and Auror left St. Mungo's preparing to search the school. Healer Armstrong instructed the guard guarding the boy's room to stay to stay alert.

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James Potter wasn't sleeping well that night. All night he and his friends were accused and questioned by their fellow students and they were not looking forward to doing the same thing with the Aurors tomorrow. It was insanely frustrating trying to tell people that he didn't attack Snape and not be able to explain what did. Finally he fell into a fitful sleep and with sleep came a dark dream.

He was walking through the forbidden forest, the light of the full moon illuminating his path. Not far down the path he saw a beautiful sight. It was a patronus in the form of a shining silvery doe. Happily he fallowed lovely creature deeper into the forest. At one point she sped up and he was forced to run to keep up. Along the path his foot kicked up a small stone. Curiously he picked it up and saw it was a ring. He shoved it in his pocket and quickly ran off so as not to lose the doe.

She led him out of the forest and to his surprise he saw the Shrieking Shack. It was a little strange going in through the front door rather than the tunnel under the Whomping Willow but he went in eagerly to meet his friends for their monthly adventure. But then he opened the door to the living room he stopped dead in his tracks.

Dead on the floor were all his friends and the girl he had been pursuing for years. A large black dog lay by the door; his eyes opened staring back lifeless. There was a wolf at the other end of the room covered in blood. A rat, that was missing an arm, was lying just a few inches away from the fire place. And by the window was a red doe the looked just like the Silver patronus lay sprawled out on the floor dead, her almond shaped green eyes staring back at him.

James backed out of the room and ran from the shack in terror and disbelieve. But as soon as he had exited the house he saw the Quidditch field dilapidated and falling apart. He turned the other way only to see Hogwarts in flames. He ran to the flaming castle hoping to find someone alive who could tell him what was going on. But he found no one alive. The bodies of students and teachers and even some animals were all that he found. He even saw a dead unicorn dripping with silvery blood at the entrance to Dumbledore's office. _'The Headmaster'_, he thought. _'He'll know what's going on.'_ He thought to himself as he tried to gain access to his office. He tried every candy and sweet he could think of but the gargoyle did not budge. It was only after calling out "Professor Dumbledore" that he was let in.

But he felt no comfort going up the stairs; the walls were speckled with blood the whole way up. He hesitated when he got to the door; he thought he could hear a sound coming from within. It almost sounded like a baby crying. Finally he worked up the courage to go in but like everything else he had seen today it wasn't what he had expected.

Instead of seeing Professor Dumbledore there was a tall dark man with greasy black hair standing with his back to him. "You're late Potter." And then there was no longer any doubt as to who this man was.

"Snape, what's going on? What are you doing here?"

Slowly, Snape turned around and James gasped in shock seeing not a skinny teenage Snape but a fully grown man covered in blood bleeding from a gaping neck wound, just like he had seen earlier that day. And then he realized the crying noise had gotten louder. There was a bundle in Snape's arms and it looked like he was trying to hide it.

"What the bloody hell is going on and what the bloody hell is that thing?" Snape looked back at him with a look of deepest loathing on his face.

"It's yours Potter." He took the bundle out from his cloak and slowly unwrapped it. Within the bundle was a fawn with bright green eyes just like the dead doe he had seen back in the Shrieking shack. "You were late Potter and look what happened." He gestured to the fawn's head and it was then he saw a red lightning bolt scar on its forehead.

Suddenly there was a hissing sound and out from behind the headmaster's desk and a great white snake with glowing red eyes rose up. James saw Snape holding the fawn tighter not taking his eyes off the snake.

"Now Severus." came a voice from the wall of portraits. There sat Albus Dumbledore with his ever present twinkle in his eye smiling at Snape from within the frame. "We've talked about this my boy."

Snape looked back at Dumbledore's portrait with a sad expression. "But I promised."

The fawn was quiet now and was looking at the snake with its wide green eyes. "Yes, but I told Nagini she could come over for dinner and I'm out of lemon drops. We mustn't be rude now shall we?"

Dumbledore gestured to the fawn and reluctantly Snape set it down on the ground. James expected the fawn to make a run for it but instead it walked right up to the giant serpent. The two stared at each other for a long time and just when it seemed like the snake had changed its mind it swooped down and swallowed the little fawn in one gulp.

James gasped in shock as Snape turned away and the snake shriveled up on the floor and turned to dust. James Potter didn't know what was going on but as he backed away ready to make a run for it he tripped and fell on his back. The fall knocked the ring he had found out of his pocket. It cracked as it landing on the stone floor of Dumbledore's office. As it bounced on the floor a dark substance seemed to pour out of the broken gem.

"Ah, I see you found my ring Mr. Potter. But oh dear, it seems like we've made quite a big mess." The portrait said as the blackness continued to spill out flooding the room. "Severus, would you be so kind as to help Mr. Potter clean up?"

At this point James was trying to swim to keep himself from being consumed by the darkness, but Snape didn't move a finger to help him. James even tried to yell out "help" but it was too late, moments later there was nothing but darkness. He was a little surprised he could breath but he was more concerned by the fact that there was nothing visible anywhere around him.

"Hello!" James called out getting a little hysteric. "Is there anyone out there?"

"Look at me." James jumped at the sound of Snape's voice and spun around to see the adult Snape staring at him still dripping with blood. Without warning Snape appeared in front of him and grabbed him by his robes. "LOOK at me!" His face was rapidly flashing between the teen and adult Snape. He was still bleeding but slowly the red blood shifted to silver. James tried to pull away as the silvery blood started to drip onto him.

"Take it!" James couldn't seem to break free from his crazed rival. The slivery blood was getting all over him and seemed to just seep into him. And with it came the visions and the memories. The memories of a future full of death and destruction.

"look at me…" Snape forced James to look him in the eye. The cold black eyes told of a war yet to come. "Look at me." Black shifted to green reviling the pain of loss and the sacrifices that the war had cost.

"LOOK AT ME!" and then to red showing the unspeakable evil that was already raising and would grow to become the worst the world had ever seen.

Unable to take it any more James Potter let out a blood curtailing scream and jolted himself awake. He was still screaming until he realized he was back in his bed safe and sound and Snape was nowhere to be seen. He almost collapsed in his bed but was overcome with a sudden urge to check on his friends. He threw back his curtain and this time did collapse seeing them all there safe and sound. He was lucky he had asked Lily to cast a silencing charm around his bed so he and his friends could talk without being heard and she seemed too had forgotten to take it down. But the feeling of relief was short lived. He knew it was just a crazy dream but somehow it felt real. Too real.

He didn't sleep the rest of the night fearing he would see those haunting black eyes again if he closed his. And as James Potter shivered in fear in his dorm room, Severus Snape woke up.

To be continued…

Next time: The Green Eyed Monster

While James Potter tries to convince the Auros of his innocence, Severus Snape is getting a visit from a green eyed monster…that lived in a cupboard under the stairs.


	3. The Green Eyed Monster

_Disclaimer: No I don't own Harry Potter nor am I making any money off of this fic. _

_Sorry for the wait. I am still in great need of a beta. I've tried contacting a few but so far no luck. If you know anyone or would like to volunteer please let me know. I didn't want to wait much longer because I don't want people to think this story was abandoned. So for now this chapter is once again has no beta so please forgive the grammar and spelling mistakes. I do read over each chapter multiple times but I can never seem to catch everything. _

_That's enough out of me. Enjoy!_

Chapter 3

**The Green Eyed Monster**

"Prongs mate, you look like hell." Commented Sirius as James stumbled out of bed rubbing his eyes.

"And a good morning to you too Padfoot." James grumbled as he noted Sirius's perfect hair.

"What's wrong mate? You nervous about the Aurors coming? I would think an Auror's son would be able to just slide right by."

"I don't think it's the same when you're Dad's retired. Anyway, I'm fine I just didn't get a lot of sleep last night."

Sirius gave his friend a concerned look. "What's the matter? Did that…thing with Snivellus freak you out more than I thought?"

At the mention of Snape James couldn't help but remember that horrible dream.

"You know you didn't have to throw away your close just because they were covered in blood." Sirius commented. "The house elves could have cleaned them up." But James still had a concerned expression on his face.

Then the smirk on Sirius's face fell. "Do you really think they'll try to blame us?"

James put his hand through his hair and sighed. "From an outsiders point of view I admit we do look pretty guilty." Sirius gulped and gave a nervous smile. It was a bad habit of his. Whenever he was nervous or highly stressed he would smile and laugh even if the situation was highly inappropriate.

"Listen Sirius, we didn't try to kill the little git. But if you keep grinning like that-"

"I know I know!" Sirius snapped before James could finish. "I can't help it! I know we didn't do it but everyone including our own dorm mates think we did."

"Padfoot calm down. You know how fast the Hogwarts rumor mill is. In a few days someone will transfigure their partner's head into a turnip and we'll be old news."

"Easy for you to say." Sirius said with a frown. "Your dad was a highly decorated Auror, while my family is so deep seeded in the dark arts I wouldn't be surprised if one or more of them were arrested by him." James couldn't really argue with that but he had to get his best friend to stop worrying so much or he'd laugh himself right into Azkaban.

"Relax alright. Dumbledore believes us and I know he has some Aurors who look up to him. I'm sure we'll be fine. Now come on, let's get to the common room before Remus wears a hole in the floor and Peter worries himself bald."

That got Sirius to laugh a genuine laugh as they made their way down the stairs. "You're right; Dumbledore will take care of it. I mean, even with that little prank mishap earlier this year he was still understanding about it. Even if I finally stopped having weekend detentions."

James remembered the insolent well. It was the infamous full moon when Sirius had tricked Snape into visiting the Shrieking Shack and the Slytherin had met a fully transformed werewolf. That incident had caused a real rift between them all mostly Remus and Sirius. Remus had only recently started talking to him again and now this…thing has to happen. James was hoping Remus wouldn't withdraw again like he tried to do last time.

Suddenly an image assaulted James' mind. With a flash of teeth and fur, a huge snarling wolf was staring at him ready to attack only to be pulled back at the last second. But it wasn't just the image he saw but emotions as well. He felt the shock and fear of the person who had just narrowly escaped death. Only it wasn't him.

"James?" the voice of his friend broke his concentration and the vision cleared.

"What?"

"I said do you have any tips for when we're being interviewed today?" They had just entered the common room and sure enough Remus was pacing and chewing on his nails and Peter was curled up in an arm chair mumbling something to himself.

"Alright mates, gather round." They looked up and gathered around their self-proclaimed leader. "This is no big deal. We didn't do anything wrong so we have nothing to hide. We need to remember that. Answer any question truthfully, if they think you're lying they're grill you even harder. If they ask about the prank we were going to pull, cop to it. Peter was right, detention is better than Azkaban."

He then turned to Remus. "Moony stop biting your nails and do something to relax before you go in. Luckily you're in the middle of full moon cycles so you're about a healthy as we can expect. Even so, don't eat much beforehand, maybe just some toast, you don't want to vomit, that goes for all of you.

"Remember, you're being questioned about what happened to Snape, it has nothing to do with your furry little problem. I'm sure Dumbledore's going to say something to you beforehand but if you're health happens to come up, stick with whatever Madam Pomfree told you. Don't bring it up if they don't. They shouldn't but just in case." Remus seemed a bit reassured but still visibly nervous.

"Peter you need to calm down. I know you're scared but just stick to the facts. But the details of our monthly adventures must not be mentioned at all. Again, I don't see a reason it should be brought up but if they do pretend you don't know what they are talking about. The most important thing to remember in this case is not to assume anything. Make sure you know what they are asking before you answer."

Seeing that Peter still looked nervous James added, "If they mention that you seem nervous just say you're upset about what happen to Snape-"

"EXACTLY!" Peter cried out making his friends jump. "While everyone's looking at us someone or something is still out there and could strike again at any moment. And right now no one's looking for it or them and what if we're next because it thinks we've seen something-"

"Peter! " James shouted grabbing the smaller boy by the shoulders. "You'll be fine. In fact, run with it. You're little rant sounds the more believable than "we don't know what happened"."

Seeing Peter was on the right track he turned to the most challenging member of their crew. "Sirius I don't care if you have to keep stabbing yourself with a quill all throughout the whole interrogation. DO. NOT. SMIRK OR LAUGH."

Despite himself Sirius cracked a small smile and made it worse by trying to cover it up. "They're going to lock me up aren't they?" He said miserably as James sighed.

"No they're not. Like I said, stick to the truth. Snape wasn't a friend, it's OK you don't like him but don't call him evil or suggest he had it coming. Remember he's the victim here and Aurors don't like it when you tried to blame the victim unless there was a fight or they were the instigators. Neither of those applies in this case. So whatever you do, don't slip and call him Snivellus, stick to Snape."

Glancing at his watch he saw it was time to get going. "It's almost time. They'll be coming for us any moment now. I wish we could all take a calming draft but we're not allowed in case they decide to use veritaserum."

Sirius perked up at this. "Well if they use veritaserum then they'll know we're telling the truth. Should I ask for that up front?" James thought for a moment before answering.

"They would only use it if they think you're hiding something and if you ask for it right off the bat they'd be suspicious. There are ways to fool it."

"Yeah, but were still only in our 6th year and were frightened kids they'll have to take that into consideration."

"Let see if we can talk to Dumbledore first he might be able to suggest something." James certainly hoped that was the case considering the fact that Sirius kept switching between small smiles and worried frowns. Whenever he got like this the only thing that seemed to make it stop was for him to get angry. And that was last thing he needed.

When Dumbledore came it was almost a relief. They all wanted to put this behind them. But as they were going through the portrait James had a sudden flash again. This time it was an image of an older Sirius Black on a Wanted poster laughing like a maniac as well as bits and pieces of strange conversations. "Hide them, keep-safe-", "The Potters went into hiding-", "-all they found of him was a finger." "James and Lily put their trust in the wrong person…" The image of the wanted poster flashed again but this time instead of laughing it started to speak. "James…"

"Hey, James!" James Potter snapped back into reality and saw all of his friends looking at him strangely. "James, you OK mate?" The real Sirius asked.

Remus looked concerned as well. "You sort of spaced out for a few moments." Peter didn't speak but he looked honestly scared. Not wanting to upset anyone he pretended he was fine.

"No worries, I just got lost in thought for a moment. Now let's get a move on so we have time to talk to Dumbledore." The other Marauders seemed satisfied for the moment and continued on. But James couldn't get the images and the voices out of his head. But there was something else that was even more troubling. And it was the feeling of hated that came from them and directed at his best friend. Feelings he knew were not his own. But who's were they?

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Severus Snape was coming out of his coma. But unlike the movies or romance novels patients don't just suddenly wake up and are all better. He was slowly coming to. Sometimes he would mumble something in his sleep other times his would gaze vacantly at the ceiling as if he was dead. But he was alive, alive and fighting. He had found what he was searching for but they were all still in danger. He needed to protect them but he wasn't sure how.

Deep within the mind of Severus Snape the wizard was alone with his thoughts with only the two green lights for company. As he was trying to figure out what he was supposed to do next, one of the light started flashing. Severus looked up and tried to reach for it. Suddenly it flew off. Severus grabbed the other light and held it close as he chased after the wayward light. He was angry, it was his job to protect it and it just flew off.

It wasn't long before the light slowed and slipped into a small hole. As Severus got closer he realized the light had flown into the keyhole of a small door. Upon closer inspection he saw it was a cupboard underneath a staircase. He gripped the knob apprehensively. He didn't know why but he didn't want to open this door. There was something inside he didn't want to see. But the green light was in there and like it or not he had to find it again. Before he could lose his nerve he yanked the door open. And it was true; he didn't like what he saw at all.

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For most of the Marauders the interviews weren't as bad as they first thought. Remus was interviewed by Alastor Moody who, as Dumbledore explain before he went in, knew about his furry little problem. With that off the table he was a lot less stressed and was able to calmly tell the Auror everything he knew and didn't know about the incident. Mad Moody still freaked him out a little bit but he had that effect on most people.

Peter got a middle aged witch who was a mother of three. He did just what James had said and played up just how scared he was of the whole situation. She sympathized; he reminded her of her own son and believed his version of the story. While it may have been the truth she missed the little smirk he had on his face as he left. He read her like a book.

The Dog Star must have been shining brightly last night because Sirius Black had completely lucked out with his Auror. He was a young trainee who still had his final exam to study for and was under a lot of stress. Feeling with Moody here he was wasting valuable study time and the trainee offered to use veritaserum. He knew he was supposed to be practicing interviewing techniques but he'd have plenty of time for that later. Technically he wasn't doing anything wrong, and using veritaserum was an interviewing method. He didn't even need to get consent since the kid was 17 and had agreed.

Sirius had to hide just how relieved he was which was overshadowed by him revealing just how much he really did hate Snape. Never the less, it was clear that he had nothing to do with the attack in question and that was all the trainee cared about. Sirius was done almost a half hour before any of his other friends.

James Potter on the other hand, seemed to have given all his luck to his mates. He knew as soon as he walked through the door he was in trouble. Standing by the desk was a tall wizard with a little pointed beard. His dark brown hair, which was starting to turn gray, was tide back in a long ponytail. He smiled as he watched James enter the room. A cold nasty smile saying he was simply ecstatic to see this boy in trouble.

James barely hid a groan. While he had never met himself he knew exactly who this man was. Lance J. Birchwood once worked for his father as an Auror. Birchwood was a very ambitious young Auror but had a bad habit of jumping to his own conclusion in a case and didn't like to admit when he was wrong or listen to other people's opinions. When James' father had been the head of the department Birchwood sucked up to him so much it was sickening. But when his Dad retied and Birchwood was passed over to be his replacement the man lost it. He made all sorts of threats saying he had been cheated out of the job and that he had been promised the position. James thought that man had been demoted or sacked but with Voldemort and his followers looking like they were going to start a war, the Auror department must have been desperate for help.

Birchwood continued to smiled and show off his teeth. "Why if it isn't Potter's son, John was it?"

"James…sir." He corrected hoping that he wasn't judged unfairly because of something his father had done.

"Potter must be in quite a twist. Imagine his own son strutting around school, trying to kill off his fellow classmates." James sighed. That wasn't likely to happen anytime soon. After all, he looked just like his father.

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Healer Armstrong was pleased with the progress of his young patient. Severus Snape was slowly coming to and fighting for survival. But he wasn't out of the woods yet and it wasn't just his injuries that had the Healer worried. He still didn't know how he was injured and his meeting with the boy's teachers did nothing to ease his worries. Was this a onetime incident? A specific attack? An accident? Was this boy targeted or was there something dangerous wandering around the school. He couldn't help but remember reading about the mysterious "Chamber of Secrets" while he was still in school. He never said it out loud but he toyed with the idea that young Mr. Snape was attacked by Slytherins monster. But even in his head it sounded silly. But chamber monster or not something or someone attacked this boy and he was worried that there could be more victims if whatever it was wasn't caught soon.

And then there was something else that was bothering him about this case. Some of his coworkers thought he was being paranoid having Mr. Snape's room being guarded but just because you're paranoid doesn't mean you're wrong. While the boy's father was noticeably absent from the visiting area the boy did have several "friends" come in wishing to see him. But when they were asked for identification and for security to hold their wands they all made excuses and left before anyone found out who they were. No one was calling him paranoid now.

As he was finishing updating his chart for Mr. Snape one of his fellow healers came rushing to him. She had a panicked look in her eyes as she thrust a chart into his hands. "Healer Armstrong, you've got to come quick. You know the patient we all thought had an allergic reaction to Mandrake leaves?"

He glanced at the chart as she was talking and saw why she was so worried. "Dragon Pox! Merlin's beard, we're going to have to quarantine the whole hospital!"

"We've already started testing patients that aren't vaccinated. Anyone who's not infected needs to be moved before they are."

Healer Armstrong glanced back at his struggling young patient. He hopped his wasn't infected and hoped he was strong enough to survive wherever he was transferred to.

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Severus Snape was oblivious to all the commotion going on around him. Memories of his former future life came to him like a flood of awareness the moment he opened the cupboard door. He saw his own miserable life flashing before his eyes. All of his mistakes, decisions, and sacrifices up until the moment his life ended were shoved in front of him.

It was almost a relief when he saw the giant white snake coming at him. It meant his life was over and these horrible images would stop. But while his life may have been over, the images didn't stop. The last thing thought he was going to see was Lily's beautiful green eyes through her only son's. But once their eyes met the images stated all over again. This time however, it wasn't his own life that he was forced to watch. It was Harry Potter's.

Severus was forced to confront what he had always thought to be the truth. Potter's home life was one of abuse and neglect and as far from pampered that he had ever seen. He saw the boy growing up with that horrid excuse for a family only to finally escape to Hogwarts and the magical world. Seeing events that happened through Harry Potter's eyes was defiantly an eye opener. He tried very hard to find the arrogant attention seeking brat that was the James Potter incarnate. Only to find a meek little boy who only wanted a friend or two, one who was happily surprised to get a few measly gifts for Christmas and his birthdays, and a boy who thought so little of himself that he thought nothing of putting his life on the line to help someone.

Snape tried to deny it thinking is was all a lie but deep down he knew it wasn't. The years went by in a flash but little snippets caught his attention as important even if they meant nothing at the time. A diary, a locket, a tiara: It was only when he saw the ring on Albus Dumbledore's hand he knew there was a connection. He knew the ring was cursed when Albus has stumbled into the castle barely alive but now it seemed that ring had a bigger purpose. He was never able pry out why Dumbledore sought out the ring in the first place but now he wished he had been more insistent.

As the memories continued he finally saw the whole picture. Horcruxes: he had come across the term while researching dark magic at a fellow Death Eater's house in his youth. He knew basically how it worked and that if the Dark Lord truly wished immortality then it wasn't hard to believe that he would choose to in such a gruesome manor. But seven! The Dark Lord was even more insane then he thought. And Harry Potter was one of the seven.

And this was what Dumbledore placed all his bets on and gambled with the lives of the entire wizarding world. He gave half of his plan's details to him and the other half to Potter. Knowing that the prophesy would bring everything together for one final showdown.

And he, Severus Snape, gave his life for the cause only to lead Lily's son to his death. A death Harry Potter met without hesitation, just some words of encouragement from his lost loved ones. And then the boy who lived…died. And that was the end on the visions from the little green eyed monster.

The outcome of the war was unknown but if Nagini was killed, and he sincerely hoped she was, then the Dark Lord would be mortal and could be killed by anyone. But with the death of their savior Harry Potter would anyone even try? He had no way of knowing but for the moment he didn't care. He had failed. He had failed to protect Lily and then he had failed to protect her son like he had promised he would. He had broken his vow and the world could go to hell for all he cared. His lights were gone.

Or were they? He somehow understood he wasn't in 1998 it was 1976. The prophesy hadn't been told yet and Lily, dear Lily was still alive. That's what this was all about he realized. Somehow he'd gone back in time, and now he knew how to weaken the Dark Lord and make him mortal once again. Then he could leave it to Dumbledore to finish him off in what was sure to be a grand finality and end this war before it was too late. Dumbledore is younger now and wouldn't suffer the curse of that wretched ring again because Severus would destroy the blasted thing before the older wizard ever even knew about it.

But he had to be careful. No one could know what he was up to. If the Dark Lord ever found out than this could all be for nothing. But as difficult as it sounded he wasn't afraid. For Lily was still alive, he hadn't failed her yet in this life time. It may be too late to save their friendship but if he could save her life than he could die happy.

There was much to do, so much to plan, but first things first. First, he had to wake up.

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Alastor Moody was growing frustrated. Not only had his young recruit rushed Black's interrogation but the idiot had actually left without orders. That kid was going to be in some serious trouble when he got back to the office. As for Auror Miranda Clover, she was way too soft on Pettigrew. Even though she was fantastic in the field and was great at dueling she had a weakness for kids. As for himself, he didn't think the Lupin kid knew anything about the attack. Black, Lupin and Pettigrew all had the same basic answers but not identical like he would expect form a group of witnesses that had nothing to hide. He still wanted to interview a few of the other witness because someone or something attacked the Snape boy and he needed to know what.

But right now he was wondering what was taking Potter so long to finish up. He had taken Lupin in for questioning first and didn't see the Auror who was supposed to be interviewing Potter since they were late and he didn't want to wait.

"Professor McGonagall?" He called to the Gryffindor head of house. "Who is the Auror that's in there questioning Potter?"

The Deputy Headmistress looked up from grading her 4th year essay and thought for a moment. "Oh, yes now I remember. That would be Auror Birchwood."

Moody's eyes snapped open. "Birchwood? What the bloody hell is he doing here he's supposed to be on restricted duty?" He snapped and without another word burst into the room where Potter was trying to plead his case.

"I keep trying to tell you I didn't do it!" He heard Potter exclaim as he entered the room.

"Birchwood what in blazes are you doing here?" If Birchwood was surprised by Moody's interruption he certainly hid it well.

"Why I'm just fallowing orders. They asked for any volunteers to do some interrogations at Hogwarts so I thought I'd help. And it's a good thing I did. This boy just confessed to trying to kill his classmate."

James jumped up from his chair with such force that he knocked it over. "That is NOT what I said he keeps twisting my words around!"

"Alastor," Birchwood continued as if he had heard the boy's outburst. "He said it himself; he slipped and mentioned it was a snake that attacked the other student."

James was about ready to burst he was so mad. "Snape's in Slytherin and I called him a snake! Everyone knows we don't like each other there was no point lying about that! You were the one who mentioned it was a snake that attacked Snape!"

"That's a lie!" hissed Birchwood, the smile no longer on his face. "You knew it was a snake that attacked him you even mentioned it was white."

At this new bit of information Moody took a second look at young James Potter who looked ready to smash Birchwood's face in. "Again, he's completely twisting everything I say! He asked me how Snape looked after the attack and I said he was white as parchment."

Moody had had enough. This was exactly why he didn't want Birchwood doing any sort of interrogation. "That's it Birchwood we're going back to headquarters were we're going to discuss your future as an Auror."

Birchwood shot an angry look at James. "I know what I heard Alastor! That little brat was involved and he thinks he can get away with it too!"

Moody raised his wand in a clear warning to the other Auror. "Once again thanks to you incompetents this interrogation has been compromised. You let a valuable piece of information slip and now it will be ten times harder to find out what Mr. Potter really knew."

He then turned back to the boy in question. "Don't think we're done here Mr. Potter. I'll be coming back to do the job right. In the meantime don't let anyone else know about the snake theory or anything else that was discussed in your interview or we'll be talking about this in my private office."

James gulped. He had heard stories about Mad Moody's Private office, none of them were very pleasant. "Yes sir."

And with that Alastor Moody left leaving behind a very concerned James Potter. He was even more concerned when he had a sudden vision of the Shrieking Shake with a giant white snake coming right at his neck.

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While the Marauders were being interrogated the rest of the school was on lockdown. The only students being let out of their common rooms while the school was being searched were the prefects. They were patrolling the grounds looking for anything suspicious or foolish wandering students. Normally they would patrol in pairs but since Remus, the 6th year male Prefect, was one of the student being interrogated Lily Evens was on her own. She wasn't foolish though, she had a way to alert a teacher in case she saw spotted anything. Truthfully the others didn't want her to go especially not alone. But she wouldn't hear of it. Even though they weren't friends any more she couldn't help but feel worried about Severus Snape. As much as she tried to forget about him there would always be a part of her that missed her old friend. Before he got involved with those future Death Eaters and the dark arts that is. But as much as she wanted to save him, tried to save him, she was unable to do so. In the end he had chosen his way and she had chosen hers. But oh how she wished it didn't have to be that way.

She was finishing up her patrol around the hospital wing when she hear a small commotion coming from inside. Fearing someone else had been attacked she quietly tiptoed inside to hear what was going on. The first voice she heard was Madame Pomfrey and she wasn't happy. She was talking to what sounded like another Healer. From what she could make out from the argument it seemed there was an outbreak of Dragon Pox at St. Mungo's and Severus had to be transferred back to the school. Neither one seemed very pleased about sudden turn of events but the other Healer had assured her that he would be on call 24/7 should his vitals drop or if he needed anything or if she needed his help.

'_So Sev-I mean Snape's back at Hogwarts already?'_ she thought to herself trying to keep herself hidden. _'Then he's still alive.'_ She knew better than to listen to the Hogwarts rumor mill too much but after seeing all that blood she feared the worst. Patiently she waited until both Madam Pomfree and the other Healer were gone and she crept the rest of the way in.

There weren't any other students in the Hospital Wing at the moment so she knew the only occupied bed hidden behind a privacy screen had to be him. Suddenly she was very nervous even if she wasn't sure exactly why. She knew he was alive but that was about it. But she wasn't a Gryffindor for nothing and she'd be damned if she'd let Severus Snape frighten her away especially if he was unconscious.

Taking a deep breath she steadied herself and bravely stepped around the screen. She gasped and coved her mouth with her hand shocked at the sight of her former best friend. He had bandages coving his neck and shoulders. She paled at the amount of blood that was seeping through the white linens. It was so bad she was almost tempted to get Madam Pomfrey. But while the bandages didn't cover his face she could see an angry red patch from the wound crawling up the right side of his face. The rest of his face didn't look so good either. What was normally a pail pasty color skin was now swollen a reddish-green color with spots of yellow. That wasn't even the worst of it though. It looked like he was having trouble breathing and a breathing tube had been inserted down his throat forcing air into his lungs.

Now she knew why Madam Pomfrey was so upset. He needed to stay in the hospital it was way too soon for him to come back to the school. "Oh Sev." She said softly her heart aching for the boy she once knew. Without realizing what she was doing she gently took one of his hands in hers trying to offer him some comfort.

Suddenly Severus Snape's eyes shot open. Onyx black orbs met shimmering emerald green and Lily almost jumped away in shock. As for Severus: His green-eyed monster had just turned into a green-eyed Angel.

To be continued…

NEXT TIME: **Heaven, Hell and Everything in Between**

At long last Severus Snape is reunited with Lily Evens but his work has only just begun and he's in no shape to be thwarting Voldemort any time soon. But when he is confronted by James Potter about the visions he's been having Severus realized he's been given an ally. And neither one of them is very happy about this new arrangement.

_Quick note: I'm not sure if wizards use a breathing tube or if they have a spell that helps the patient breath. I chose the tube because visually it's a bit more disturbing than seeing a spell making his chest rise and fall. Having seen a few people with one in myself I can honestly say it is a bit of a shock and more than a little unnerving which is what I needed Lily to see. _

Please Read and review: Shiroi Misa


	4. Heaven, Hell and Everything in Between

**Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter!**

**No I haven't died, and yes this is a real chapter. Thanks for all the reviews and comments and thank to my new beta Rain in the Dark for all the help. Sorry for the insanely long delay it's been pretty rough for me these last few months. My brother was in the hospital to get his gallbladder out (he's ok now) but I had to work a lot more to help with the bills. My current boss is trying to fire everyone at my work, the heavy rain is making leeks in my roof and I have to move soon not knowing where I'll be going. So not a lot of good stuff has happened to me in a while. On the plus side my cousin's getting married to a really nice guy, and NY Comic Con is coming up. While I can't promise the next chapter will be out soon I'm hoping the more positive vibes will inspire me even though this is a busy time of year for me. **

**I do plan on finishing this story even if it does take a while. I should mention there will be some character death throughout this story. Who and when I'm not going to say. Also this is going to be a multiple point of view story mostly switching between Severus and James' POV but other character's thoughts will be explored later in the story. I was going to split this chapter in two since it wound up being more than twice as long than I had planned but I had a specific stopping point in mind and didn't want to break up the flow. So enjoy a nice long chapter.**

_**Heaven, Hell and Everything in Between**_

Severus Snape felt like he was trapped in a long dark tunnel with no way of knowing if he was heading toward the exit or burring himself deeper. He had no sense of time or space, but he knew he had to keep going. He was so close he could feel it. Suddenly he heard a voice. It was soft and warm, and it was calling to him. He turned and tried to follow it as it echoed around him. This was it, this is what he was trying to find. He reached out his hand blindly, hoping for something to hold onto, and then he felt it. It was a hand reaching out to him, pulling him out of the darkness and at last into the light.

Severus's eyes snapped open, more awake then he had been since his attack. He was forced to shut them again due to the bright light. But he forced himself to quickly adjust, for he saw something beautiful and he needed to see it again. He heard her gasp as his vision slowly came into focus and almost cried in pure joy. Lily was there, standing before him; lovely, radiant and alive. For a moment he thought somehow God had been merciful and he had been allowed into heaven. But surly, no one would allow him entry after all the terrible things he had done, for the greater good or not.

So his dreams must have been real then. Somehow he had come back to the end of his 6th year where the war was still only in the shadows, before he had taken the Dark Mark, and a time when Lily was not only still alive but not dating Potter. Unfortunately, they were no longer friends in their 6th year. Despite his many attempts Lily simply refused to even acknowledge him, so eventually he was forced to admit defeat, while in the back of his mind he had hoped his rise to power would somehow impress her. Merlin, had he really been that foolish? But the truth was that he had been a complete and total fool when he tried to justify his actions while lying to himself.

Well, not this time, that foul tattoo would never blemish his skin, not in this lifetime. He would protect her this time around. He would undermine his former Lord and take him down before he knew what had hit him. He could finally apologize to Lily for all his mistakes and ensure they would not be repeated. And here she was, even though she swore to never to speak to him again, here she stood before him. He couldn't wait to embrace her, begging her for forgiveness and kissing her feet even though he knew he was unworthy.

But as he opened his mouth to speak, he gagged on something large and long shoved down his throat. He tried to raise his hand to inspect the foreign object, but it was so weak it barely rose above the bed sheets. It was like the euphoria of seeing Lily alive was wearing off and he was only now realizing how much pain he was in. Years of suffering through the Cruciatus curses had heightened his pain tolerance, but there were very few places on his body that didn't hurt. His left side was pulsing with hot agony, and he felt like someone had taken a chainsaw to his neck and tried to decapitate him. He realized that the thing in his throat was breathing tube and fighting it was only costing him air.

Lily looked down upon him with a sad expression. He hated seeing her sad, and he hated it even more that once again he was the cause. "I'm… I'm glad you alright, Se-Snape." Severus cringed at her use of his last name. "Well, alive at least- I mean…" she seemed to lose her nerve now that he was awake. "I know we're not friends anymore, but I never wanted you dead. No one deserves to be hurt like this, maybe you'll remember that when you're out with your… friends." His heart sank at her cold tone. "But I doubt that." And with that she let go of his hand, and Severus was too weak to hold on. As she turned away to leave, he tried to cry out and beg her not to. He had so much to say, and she was right there and might have even listened, but the tube was in too deep to spit out and his would be poetic apology came out as a choking gasp. She paused in the doorway as if she was debating whether or not she should go back. _"Did she change her mind?"_ He though while watching her in the doorway looking remorseful. _"Did she know her words were hurtful? Did she perhaps regret that she had said them?"_ But suddenly he heard Madam Pomfrey coming back into the room. And with one fleeting glance his angel vanished from his sight.

The pain of his body was nothing compared to the ache he felt as he watched Lily leave the room. He barely noticed the nurse fuss over his vitals that had gone haywire only moments ago. _'How cruel.'_ He thought, _'I finally get the chance to see Lily and say everything I've wanted to say for so many years… and I am unable to speak and she was unable to hear.'_ As the nurse sedated him and he was blissfully welcomed back to the darkness, one stray thought crossed his mind. _'Perhaps heaven rejected me after all… for this is truly Hell.'_

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While Severus slipped back into a deep sleep his rival, James Potter, was having a very rough week as well. First there was the horrifying attack on Snape, then he and his friends were accused of the crime, and now he had to wait for a second interrogation which only made him look guiltier. And as fun as the first one went with good old Birchwood, an ever vigilant Mad Moody was sure to be a blast. His friends and fellow Marauders were being very supportive, especially when they saw Moody dragging a furious Birchwood from the room kicking and screaming all the way.

Moony, who was already interviewed by the paranoid Auror, was trying to reassure James that it wasn't that bad. Too bad Remus was a lousy liar.

"And he's going to be ten times worse if he listens to anything Birchwood was screaming about." James said in an angry frustrated tone while he watched a few first year Hufflepuffs scurry away at the sight of him. "I can't believe this." He snapped as he watched the younger students disappear around the corner. "I tried to help that stupid greasy git and now everyone treating me like I'm... Snivellus." It wasn't just the Hufflepuffs either. The Ravenclaws were avoiding them as well. Even the members of their own house were eyeing them suspiciously, but the worst were the Slytherins.

Being the number one pranksters Hogwarts had ever seen, they had come to expect amateurs trying to outdo them, as well as victims seeking retribution. Usually Snivellus was their biggest rival, even though they would never tell him that, but now it was like the entire house of snakes had declared war on the quartet.

It had been nearly a week after the attack, and Snape had yet to return to school. They didn't know that he had in fact been relocated back to the school only the day before. But Snape's presence was definitely felt. So far they had been hexed, jinxed and cursed at. And those were the nice Slytherins. James suspected some of Snape's smarter Death Eater buddies were organizing the more spiteful "pranks", which they all knew were attacks in disguise. The Devil's Snare that found its way into their pots in Herbology was no accident, and neither was the little mishap in potions that left Peter and Sirius with second degree burns and no hair. Sirius was more vocal about losing his hair and wouldn't stop complaining until Madam Pomfrey grew it back. These were only a few of the many incidents, and the worst part was that they couldn't pin it on any one person and trying to blame the Slytherins in general was only getting them more glares. But the worst, while it wasn't painful or life threatening, was when someone had snuck a niffler into their dorm room, and it tore the place apart looking for shinny objects.

James, who had galleons hidden in just about all of his possessions, fared the worst. He wasn't sure what made him madder: the fact that his all of his stuff was ruined, the fact that Remus's good robes were now rags or the fact that they didn't think of it first.

Remus was looking at his already shabby clothes and trying to fight back tears. Sirius put a hand on his shoulder. "Don't take it so hard, Remus." He said, pulling out a set of robes with only two long scratches in it. "See, this is fixable. I'll bet we can get Alice Briton to patch this up." Remus snatched his robes back.

"She might, if she or anyone else were talking to us." The bitterness in his friend's voice made James go over to comfort him.

"Look, this will all let up once I've had my interview." Although he wondered what was taking so long for Mad Moody to get back to him. "I'll just get you a new wardrobe this summer, so don't worry about it."

But Remus just frowned even more. "James, you know how I feel about charity. You always overdo it on birthdays and Christmas as it is. I can't accept-"

"No." James insisted. "It was my fault that everyone thinks we attacked Snivellus, so it's on me."

Remus whipped his head around in shock. "But that wasn't your fault!"

James smiled and held up Remus's most tattered robe. "And this isn't yours." Remus still looked like he wanted to protest, so James made him a counter offer. "Tell you what, help me get an "O" on my Charms final and then you'll have earned them." James could tell he had finally won him over. Charms wasn't his best subject, and since Lily Evans was avoiding him like the plague, he ready did need the help.

"Oh, alright, but _only_ if you really do get an "O" and don't buy me anything before then." James slapped Remus on the back.

"Done! Although it looks like we'll be going to class naked at this rate. Might be worth the detention to see the look on old McGonagall's face when we-"

"AH HA!" Sirius suddenly shouted, making the rest of them jump. "I never thought I'd be grateful for being a Black. This stupid old trunk was cursed not to open for anyone that wasn't pure blood. Guess the niffler couldn't claw his way through. How'd it get in here anyway?" he pondered as he dug through his trunk.

Peter answered, speaking for the first time since they arrived to find their room in shambles. "The window's open, maybe someone levitated it from outside."

Sirius let out a bark of laughter as he started going through his spare uniforms for him and his friends. "Don't be stupid, Peter, no one could have levitated that thing all the way from the ground to the tower."

But this made Remus think. "You know, they could have been on a broom. Then it wouldn't have been very far from the window." Sirius smirked.

"You always were the smart one, Moony. You should go into teaching when you get out. You'd make a great Professor." While Remus blushed at the praise, James noticed that was Peter scowling. 'Maybe Sirius had been a bit harsh on Wormtail.' He though. 'Peter was the one who thought of the window first.' But it was hard to tell what the other boy was thinking, he kept quiet, like he usual did with little complaint.

While James was wondering about Peter Sirius got lucky and fished out four sets of non-shredded robes they could use until theirs were repaired. The ones that could be repaired anyway. Sirius handed Peter a robe much too large for him, and while he still said nothing, James noted it was dirtiest of the four and spotted with potion stains.

"Thanks, Sirius." Peter said with a bit of strain in his voice.

This didn't go unnoticed by James as he turned back to their smallest charge. They were all a bit distressed, but something about Peter was… off. After Sirius and Remus left the room, James held back a bit so he could talk to Peter alone. "Hey, Peter, are you OK?" Peter almost jumped, as if he wasn't expecting to be acknowledged.

"Who, me? I'm fine."

And then it happened again. James saw another set of strange images flash through his mind. First image was a demolished cottage that seemed familiar to him. Then a random image of Wormtail in rat form appeared before his eyes, only for some reason he was missing a toe. A dark figure was hunched over in a chair, shaking as if in agony. In front of him was Dumbledore, the twinkle missing from his blue eyes, looking sadly at the figure in black. "Lily and James trusted the wrong person." Before James could begin to work out what that meant he was hit with another one. "I had no idea, Wormtail, that you were craving more dangerous assignments," a familiar voice said silkily to an image of an older Peter. "This can be easily arranged: I shall speak to the Dark Lord —" _'What?!'_ thought James as he saw an image of a shiny hand, as if it had been made on silver.

"I can speak to him myself if I want to! JAMES!" James jumped and shook his head. _'What the hell was that? There's no way that Peter would ever be…'_

"JAMES, SNAP OUT OF IT!" Peter was now shaking his shoulders, staring at him with a worried look in his eyes. "James… a-are you alright? You spaced out again, and you wouldn't answer me even though I was shouting at you."

James starred back, a little unsure how to respond. "Sorry, and what do you mean again?" He had a few other smaller flashes lately, but they were only for a few moments. He didn't think anyone else had noticed.

Peter looked even more worried at his friend's words. "You haven't noticed? James, ever since Snivellus was attacked you keep getting these weird looks in your eyes and you're dead to the world."

James gulped. He didn't realize it was that bad. But then, if it was that noticeable, why didn't Sirius or Remus tell him? Or… or was it the fact that Peter sometimes noticed little things, even if he was often oblivious to the obvious? But he pushed all that aside, trying to focus on the present, even though he was really starting to get worried, not just about the visions but what they were about.

With a realistic smile painted on his face he tried to reassure his friend. "Don't worry about it, Peter, I'm sure it's nothing." Peter didn't look very convinced, so James tried to change the subject. "Oh, would you mind switching robes with me? Yours are longer, and for some reason my stretching charm trends to wear off rather quickly on close."

Caught by surprise by the abrupt change in the subject, Peter held up his stained robes and looked at the ones James was holding. They were indeed shorted and much nicer-looking. "A-are you sure? These are pretty damaged."

James, still smiling, grabbed the larger robes from Peter and with a wave of his wand transfigured all of the stained patches to resemble the Gryffindor crest. As he held out his new master piece, Peter couldn't help but applaud.

"Wow! That's fantastic!"

"You bet it is. Just wait until those stupid Slytherins get a look at me in these. I love making a prank against me backfire." He said as he changed. "Well, I'd better get going, I'm supposed to check in with McGonagall. Hopefully she knows when Mad Moody's coming back, so we can put this all behind us." But just as he was about to leave, Peter stopped him.

"James, I-I know you can handle just about anything, but I really think-"

"Of course I can, I've just been a little distracted lately and have a lot on my mind. So you can stop worrying so much, you'll go bald before you're 30."

"OK." Said Peter reluctantly. "But I really think you should tell Madam Pomfrey -"

"I said I'm fine." James snapped, starting to lose his patience. He regretted this as Peter flinched and backed up.

"I know, but-"

"But what?"

Peter gulped and averted his eyes, but with sear determination he said in a rush, "It's just… Snape had the same look in his eyes just before he was attacked."

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While James was struggling to figure out just what was wrong with him, Severus Snape was slowly recovering in the hospital wing. While he absolutely hated the tube in his throat, it did prevent him from being questioned for the time being. Plenty of time to think up a good story and decide what his next move should be. He tried to figure out just how long he'd be out of action, but he feared it would a lot longer than he'd like. Arthur Weasly was bitten several times in the chest, but the healers knew what kind of snake had bitten him. Even then he didn't leave the hospital for a while. Severus was still bleeding from the neck on occasion. He wished he could just tell them what snake it was and exactly how to stop the bleeding, and thus cut his recovery time down by half. But then he would have to explain how he knew what bit him when no one else saw what he did. That was not a conversation he was going to have. So he'd just have to wait.

For now time was on his side. But Severus knew that losing it could have dire consequences. So while he was stuck in the hospital wing, constantly under observation, he did the only thing he could, he planned. Planning and scheming were two things he was very good at, and now that he was overloaded with all this new information he definitely needed to sort a few things out. The top things on his list were, of course, the Horcruxes.

The Dark Lord had intended to split his soul into seven pieces, a powerful number in the world of magic. But instead he made an extra by mistake. The extra was Harry Potter. The boy had somehow given him his memories, and the information about the horcruxes came bubbling to the surface. Severus could only guess how or why any of this happened, but he theorized while he was looking into Harry Potter's green eyes he looked a little too deep. Something in the boy must have wanted to tell someone this great and terrible secret that he and his friends were keeping. Whatever the reason, he at last had the missing half of Dumbledore's plan and now he was in place to do something about it.

There were only five of the seven horcruxes around in this time. Harry Potter hasn't been born yet, and the Dark Lord wouldn't meet Nagini for quite some time. _'Thank Merlin for that.'_ He thought to himself. He didn't think he could bring himself to ever get close to that monster of a serpent again after being killed by those sharp fangs, this time surviving by just a few moments.

So that left five to seek out and destroy. The diadem of Ravenclaw would be the easiest to find in theory. But this wasn't 1997, this was 1978, and the room of requirements would look a lot different now than it would in the future. The marker Potter used to hide his potions book in his 6th year was the broken Vanishing cabinet, but that didn't get moved into the room until Potter's fifth year after Montague had been shoved into it by the Weasly twins. He shuddered at the thought of both the cabinet and the fact that Potter Jr. was cuddling up with his personal potions book. He put the more disturbing image out of his head and turned his attention back to the vanishing cabinet. Peeves broke it in Potter's Second year, but did it work now or was it already defective? He made a mental note to look into it. It had the potential to be both deadly and useful to him.

So while the Diadem he could easily get to, the others were going to be trickier. He wasn't quite sure when the Dark Lord had given the Cup of Hufflepuff to Bellatrix or when he had given the Diary to Lucius. He also wasn't sure what was more dangerous, breaking into Gringotts and escaping on a dragon or facing a deranged Bellatrix while trying to steal something that belonged to her precious Dark Lord. The dragon was looking more appealing by the minute.

Now Lucius, on the other hand, he might have better luck with. He suddenly remembered Lucius had received a mysterious gift from the Dark Lord at his wedding. He never did share what it was but Lucius couldn't help himself and bragged about it. His wedding would take place during Easter break, but being in and out of a coma made it very difficult to keep track of time, and the days kept blending together. He had probably missed the wedding or was going to be incapacitated when it happened. It was just as well, he wasn't prepared to be in a room full of Death Eaters and the Dark Lord when he had no intention of joining them again. Not this time. While he may have been useful as a spy, it would take too long to gain the Dark Lord's trust again. Time he didn't have. He had to find a way to stay close to Lucius without becoming a Death Eater. That was going to be tricky, but if he could fool the Dark Lord for years than he could think of something.

The relationship between Lucius and Severus was… complicated. They were friends in a way, but Lucius was only interested in his talent and what Severus could do for him. He was using him, and Severus was well aware of it. It was beneficial for him as well. He was introduced to people that would normally never look his way, educated in the wizarding way that he couldn't get at home, and sold to the Dark Lord. Not that he realize at the time that was what happened, nor that it was a bad thing. One of the things Lucius did for cause, besides funding and bribing officials in the Ministry, was finding prospective Death Eaters. Not just lackeys that were good with offensive spells, but more valuable members that were either in a position of power or had something special. Severus was one of the special recruits. His skills in Potions, his talent for dark arts and his eagerness to prove himself landed him in the Dark Lord's sight. He didn't blame Lucius for his involvement in with the Death Eaters. As a young man Severus had been ambitious and thirsty for power. He had joined willingly, thinking he would become someone of great importance, someone powerful and someone wizards and witches everywhere would respect. So eager… and so foolish. He had no one to blame for that mess but himself. But this time everything would be different. He had been given a second chance at life and he wasn't about to muck it up this time around. He would have to keep his enemies close without getting in too deep.

The two that he might have a bit more trouble with was the locket and the ring. That blasted ring. Of all the horcruxes that was going to be the toughest to find. All he really knew was that it was supposed to be in the home of the Dark Lord's Grandfather. He didn't know much else, except that it was in Great Britten. Severus speculated that since Potter didn't find and destroy the Horcrux himself he didn't ask too many questions. His memories from Potter weren't complete memories, just clips and flashes. He would wait on the ring, there was still a chance he'd receive more information later on.

The Locket was the newest of the five horcruxes, and Severus didn't think it was in place yet. While the Dark Lord has had the locket for years, he didn't make it into a horcrux until recently. He didn't hide it until just before Regulus Black died. Severus didn't know of Regulus's fate until he received Potter's memories, but he felt sorry for the boy. One of many who joined up not fully realizing what they were getting into until it was too late. He wouldn't die until next year, so maybe there was a chance he could help the boy and get his hands on the horcrux.

And that led to another problem. He had no way of destroying them. He wasn't about to go into the Chamber of Secrets and kill the basilisk, and fiendfyre was dangerous even in the most capable hands. He wasn't willing to risk burning down the school and exposing his plot to the world. No, he needed a different way. He also needed more information on the horcruxes themselves.

By the time the healer came back to check on him, Severus had found himself with a rather long to-do list and decided to call it a night. He suspected they were adding a sleeping draft to his pain potion, so he let himself drift off. He couldn't do much from bed, and ever since Lily's visit he had been having lovely dreams of her. Now that she was alive it was like his mind was allowing himself to remember the happier times. But he would never forget. She was safe for now, but soon she would be targeted and his dreams would once again turn into nightmares. This time, he swore to himself, he would keep her safe no matter what the cost.

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Unbeknownst to Severus Snape, some of the same images were popping up in the mind of someone else. James Potter was seriously worried he might be going mad. Ever since the attack on Severus Snape strange and horrible images were bombarding his mind whether he was asleep or awake. He was lucky to get an hour or two of sleep a night, and his school work was suffering. Even in his favorite class, Transfiguration, McGonagall was getting worried about her best student. By now both Remus and Sirius had noticed his strange behavior, but he was stubbornly refusing to let them try and help. The truth was ever since Peter mentioned he was acting like Snape had the day he was attacked he had been trying to distance himself from them. He didn't want them to get hurt if the thing that got Snape attacked him as well.

But his resolve was failing. He wanted to tell them, but that might make them suspects again and he couldn't tell any of the teachers, he would be carted off to St. Mungo's before you could say "Mad".

And one day, nearly three weeks after the attack, everything changed. His reality, beliefs, and his trust all came crashing down around him. During his N.E.W.T. Transfiguration class he had his worst episode yet. He was standing in front of a wrecked house with the dark mark hanging ominously above the caved in roof. He didn't want to go in, he was afraid of what he would find, but he had to. Maybe they were just injured and could still be helped. Slowly he crept to the door, which was blown off its hinges. He could see something lying just beyond the entrance, no, not something, someone. He could see from the shoes that it was a man.

Once again, James was experiencing emotions that weren't his. He felt a mixture of relief and fear all at once. This wasn't the person he was looking for, maybe she escaped. Moving cautiously, he stepped around the body and looked down, and James found himself starring face to face with his own corpse.

The image stopped abruptly as James let out a terrifying shriek and jumped from his seat. The other students jumped as well and looked around confused to see what it was Potter was screaming about. With Snape's attack fresh in her mind, Professor McGonagall abandoned her lesson and raced to James. But with all the confusion some of the students were trying to back away from the screaming boy and got in her way. James tripped on someone's bag and fell to the ground, hitting his head on a desk along the way. The last thing he saw was McGonagall quickly toward him with a scared look on her face.

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While James was being brought back the hospital wing, Severus Snape was celebrating the removal of that ghastly breathing tube. He still needed a spell to make sure he wouldn't stop breathing, but it was a thousand times better than that horrid contraption. He was supposed to rest his voice before trying to talk, and he knew as soon as he was able they would be asking him what happened. Fortunately, he knew exactly to say to keep some attention off of him for the time being. It was just before supper, but he was starting to fall asleep again. He hated the fact that his insomniac sleeping schedule was all over the place, but there was little he could do about it. Best to get better so he could begin his plans.

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Severus was out like a light when Potter was brought in. While Madam Pomfrey was able to fix the cut on James' head in moments, she told him wasn't sure of the cause of the strange behavior. She woke him up, but he James very disoriented and confused. After a few more tests and she was sure there was no concussion or brain damage, she gave him a sleeping draft laced with a bit of dreamless sleep and he was out like a light.

James didn't wake up again until 5:00 the next morning. He was still a little confused, but he felt more rested than he had in weeks. Last night, after he ate his supper, Professor Dumbledore came to see him and asked how he was feeling. James tried to remember what happened, but he couldn't remember how he had gotten hurt. The headmaster seemed to believe him, but said he would like to talk again in the morning. Unfortunately, with his memory loss he had to stay in the hospital wing until Madam Pomfrey was sure he was OK. To make matters worse, he was in isolation and unable to see his friends who were, no doubt, threatening to break down the doors if he was kept longer than a day.

Now that he was awake, James was feeling fine. And while he toyed around with the idea of escaping, he knew Madam Pomfrey was not one to be crossed, especially after what happened to Snivellus. But why couldn't he remember what happened during transfiguration? It felt like there was a blank spot in his mind just waiting to be filled. And he knew he wasn't going to like it.

Right now, though, he was bored, he didn't even have his school books with him to try and catch-up with his homework. Unable to stay in bed any longer, he got up and went looking for a drink of water for lack of anything better to do. As he wandered to the end of the hospital wing, he heard a sudden and violent cough.

James's eyes were drawn to a secluded corner blocked off by privacy walls. He wondered who it could be, he was supposed to be the only one here tonight, and everyone else had already been discharged. With his usually reckless curiosity he moved closer to the bed secluded in the corner. But a funny thing happened, the closer he got the more he started to remember how he ended up in the hospital wing. He grabbed his head as memories of the broken house and finding his own dead body came rushing back. He held back a scream, but not the grunts of pain as more and more memories he had seen over the last few weeks assaulted him one after another.

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Severus Snape awoke with a painful cough. He clutched his neck, trying to soothe in. When he was sure the coughing fit had subsided, he took a few small sips of water to ease his burning throat. He was relieved that there was no blood this time. It meant his throat was finally starting to heal and that he didn't have to call Madam Pomfrey. He was about to lay back down when he heard someone just outside of the privacy curtain surrounding his bed. He slowly reached for his wand that he had hidden under his pillow trying to stay as quiet as he could. There was a powerful disillusionment charm placed around his bed after Lily had snuck in, so no one beside her, Madam Pomfrey, Dumbledore and McGonagall should have known he was there. Nevertheless, he kept up his guard, he was still very weak and it could be anyone out there. Suddenly the screen was shoved aside, and standing before him was a slightly deranged James Potter, staring at him like he had seen a ghost.

"Y-you!"James said in a shaky voice, trembling slightly. Severus kept his wand on the other boy, but didn't make any sudden movements. "What did you do to me, Snivellus?"

Severus was a little unnerved by the wild look in his rival's eyes. He didn't know what he was raving about or how he saw through the disillusionment charm.

"I'm not sure if you're aware of this, Potter, but I haven't been able to get out of bed since I was nearly killed several weeks ago. You may wish to have Madam Pomfrey examine your head, your brain seems to be more muddled than usual." He would have gone on longer, but his throat seized up. His voice was also very rough from the damage and the weeks of non-use.

James Potter, however, wasn't very sympathetic. "Cut the crap, Snivelly! What the Hell happened the day you nearly bled out all over me? Ever since then I've been seeing things. At first I didn't know what I was seeing, but now I do. Somehow I'm seeing your memories!"

Severus' eyes snapped opened. What in the name of Merlin was this fool playing at? "Unless you've become a world class legilimency master overnight I'd say that was highly unlikely, and that head examination I mentioned before seems even more necessary."

Not surprisingly, this only made James angrier. "If my head's damaged it's because you've done something to it!" Severus was getting a little concerned. Fortunately, Potter seems to have left his wand back at his own bed and he still had a way to summon Madam Pomfrey if he needed help in a hurry.

"Why don't we calm down a bit and elaborate on how I supposedly broke your brain?" He said in a calm voice, trying to keep the other boy from attacking him. He had learned over the years how to take down just about any opponent, even the ones who were stronger then himself. But he was always cautious around crazy people. Nutters like Bellatrix were hard to predict, and for someone like Snape, who liked being in control, he tended to avoid mad people when he could. Unfortunately, right now he couldn't, so he'd have to deal, even if that meant listening to Potter Senior's insane rants.

James wasn't fooled by Snape's calm demeanor. He knew he was dealing with a little snake, waiting patiently for a change to strike. He was kicking himself for leaving his wand at the other end of the ward, but he wasn't about to turn his back on Snape, even if he was bed ridden. He needed answers, answers that only the little greasy git could give him.

"I don't know how you did it or even what you did, but ever since then I've been getting flashes of memories. Memories I know now are yours. Like when you were almost bitten by Remus, when you called Lily… that word, but that's not all. I'm seeing stuff that hasn't happened yet, but they're just as real as the others."

Severus raised an eyebrow but didn't interrupt, he needed to know just what the other boy thought he saw.

"I saw that my best mate wound up in prison, another became a death Eater, and me… dead at my own front door." Now he had Severus's full attention. He didn't know how it was possible, but somehow Potter had gotten into his head. "And then there were a lot of other things that didn't make a lot of sense. And then…" he paused, looking consciously at the injured boy. "…I saw you die. That weird bloke with red eyes and no nose set his huge snake on you." This was bad, Snape thought. "How did you die somewhere else and are alive here?" James asked as if he was confused by his own question. Snape was livid, he was finally in position to stop the Dark Lord before it was too late, and this imbecile and his big mouth could cost him everything.

James's eyes fell upon Snape's neck and pointed. "There… that snake bit you right there." Severus had to think fast."And it killed you…so how the bloody hell did it happen again, and this time you survived?"

Severus used legilimency to gently probe Potter's mind for the memories he was raving about. It was easy, they were in the forefront of his mind. They were choppy clips of his own memories that seemed to be scattered everywhere. Worst of all, some seemed to be newer than others, meaning even if he obliviated the idiot there was a chance others would pop up. He couldn't kill him either. They were the only ones in the hospital wing. Two go in, one comes out, you do the math. He cursed to himself; he didn't have a choice, he would have to let Potter in on some of the details before he told the wrong person.

He took a deep breath and thankfully didn't start coughing again. "Because… the snake didn't attack me in the hallway outside the transfiguration room several weeks ago, I was attacked in the shrieking shack on May 2nd 1998."

James Potter looked even more confused. "That's… that's not possible."

"Normally I would agree with that statement, but in this case it's true."

"You… you're not Snape. Who the hell are you?"

"I am in fact Severus Snape, but not the one you remember. The easiest way to explain my situation is that I lived my life until I was 38 when I was struck down. Somehow my consciousness, presence, or soul was sent back to that night outside the transfiguration room, and for reasons even I'm not sure of I relived my death."

Severus waited as James tried to take this entire information in. "So you're telling me you're from the future and that you came back from the dead?"

"More like reliving my life, I don't think I actually passed all the way through the veil. At least not that I remember."

"You expect me to believe that."

"Whether you believe me or not doesn't alter the fact that it's true. How else do explain all of those images of events that have yet to come to pass?"

James was looking a little green. He didn't want to believe what Snape was telling him, but somehow he knew it was the truth, he could _feel_ it was the truth. But if that was true then all of those images were real. Sirius was going to wind up in prison, Peter would become a death Eater, and himself… dead. But surely that couldn't be their future, there was just no way.

"How did this- I mean, how is all of this possible?"

"I'm afraid I don't have an answer for that."

"Well, how about how I somehow got stuck in your head? Any answers for that?"

Severus did have an idea, it was just a theory, but it could keep Potter at bay and buy himself some time. "This is only a theory, but as I lay dying the first time I allowed some of my memories to become tangible so that they could be found and used by… the right person." He paused, not sure if he should mention Potter's son just yet. "Since I ended up reliving my death as my spirit merged with my younger self, I also ended up repeating my actions at the time of my death. It's possible some of my memories, more than I was trying to release, escaped, mixing with my blood."

"So when I tried to save you, I got drenched with your blood and they seeped into me by mistake?"

"It's the best theory we have right now."

James collapsed into a nearby chair, finally seeming to grasp the situation. "Now what do we do?"

"What do you mean we?"

"We've got to tell someone, we've got to stop all of those…things from happening. Dumbledore-"

"Absolutely NOT!" Snape shouted, but abruptly broke out into a coughing fit. He grabbed his throat, trying to soothe his still healing injury. "We tell no one." He choked out, grabbing a glass of water.

"You expect me to just sit here knowing there's a war coming, knowing people are going to die, knowing what's going to happen to me and my friends? You're barking."

Sensing he was about to lose control of the situation, Severus switched tactics. "Let one word slip about anything you've seen and I let it slip that you and your little friends are unregistered animagus. Not to Dumbledore, but right to the Aurors who I'm sure will take it much more seriously than the Gryffindor loving headmaster."

His threat had the desired effect and James' eyes shot open. "How?.. You wouldn't." Severus gave him a look. "O.K., maybe you would." James gave the Slytherin a side-glance as if he was contemplating something.

"I wouldn't try anything funny, Potter. We're the only ones in this room, anything happens to me they won't hesitate to blame you, especially after all those rumors going around that you're the one who put me in here in the first place." James' face went red.

"I wasn't going… I'm not like you, you sneaky little bastard."

"Sure you weren't. I'm sure it never crossed your mind."

"How do I know you still won't blame me? I'm sure it's crossed your mind."

"Oh, believe me, it's tempting. But I think I'll hang on to that as insurance." He had to stop as he started coughing again. "I'm afraid we'll have to finish this conversation another time. If I keep coughing, the monitoring spell will alert Madam Pomfrey."

"Great." James muttered to himself, not happy with any part of this situation. "Why you? Why couldn't someone decent come back, someone who could fix things for the better? I'll bet you're just itching to help raise your master to power and bring on a world of darkness."

For a moment it didn't seem like Snape was going to answer, but suddenly out of the darkness the Slytherin's low raspy voice broke the silence. "And why would I help someone who tried to kill me?" James looked back at the other boy and remembered the image of him dying from a huge snake set upon him by a frightening man with red eyes.

"Wait, he's the one that-"

"Oh yes, I realize he doesn't look like that right now, let's just say his outer self reflected his more internal nature later on." Severus would let the other boy think this was all about revenge. And it was, in part, but he wasn't about to let his rival know his real driving force behind him wanting the Dark Lord's destruction. He wouldn't understand, wouldn't believe. No, but revenge was something the other boy could comprehend.

James stood up, but didn't move as if he was unsure he should leave or not. Severus though had one more thing to say to the other boy. "Remember to keep your mouth shut, Potter, and meet me back here this evening, I'll have a task for you."

James wished he had his wand with him. How dare that little git threaten him and then order him around? "Why should I help you with anything? Maybe I should just turn myself in right now and have the Aurors give you a dose of veritaserum."

Snape remained calm and didn't rise to the bait. "As if you would let your friends get arrested just to prove you're not as crazy as everyone is going to think you are after you try and tell anyone I'm reliving my life. We both know you don't have it in you." James was fuming at the fact that Snape had called his bluff. He couldn't even think of a comeback.

"But don't fret, Potter, I think you might actually enjoy the task I have for you."

James scoffed. "I seriously doubt that."

"Oh, well, I think you might change your mind once you hear what it is." Snape said with a dark silky tone.

"And just what the hell is it, Snivellus? What do you want from me?" James snapped. Snape's eyes flashed dangerously when he heard that hated nickname again, but for once he wasn't going to rise to the bait. He had more important things on his mind.

"You're going to help me take down the Dark Lord."

**To be continued…**

**Next time: The World I've Known**

**My name is James Potter. All my life I was sure I knew just how the world worked. Light was good, dark was bad, Gryffindor were heroes, and Slytherin were villains. My friends and I could do no wrong, all Death Eaters were pure evil to the bone and Severus Snape was nothing more than a greasy git and wanabe Prince of Darkness. Damn him for making me question everything.**


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